The Tiger and the Reaper
by CorruptedWriter
Summary: how does Sebastian react to Jim's death? Okay okay so i should be working on my other stories that haven't been updated but meh, i get an idea, i write :)
1. Chapter 1

Sebastian sat on the couch, waiting for the call that he knew would come Tiger, I have an assignment for you, you will work alone… little did he know that this time Jim would say that he was to have a partner, someone to rein him in, keep him from doing something stupid, because this was the one assignment that he would need help with. The phone rang, "Tiger, I have an assignment for you, you will be working with a colleague of mine"

Sebastian looked at his whiskey confused, had he really drunk that much? "a partner?"

"Yes, her name is Ruby, she will be more of an…. Observer than anything, but she will tag along"

"She?"

"Yes and I trust her completely, you will work with her"

"Yes of course"

"Good, I'll text you the details, and tiger? I'm counting on you" the line went dead, and Sebastian was left wonder who Ruby could be that led Jim to trust her, he was still pondering this as a knock on the door interrupted him, downing the rest of his drink he walked to the door, opening it to reveal a slender but not so tall woman, with black hair, eyes the colour of his whiskey, and ruby red lips, "hello, you must be Sebastian, I'm Ruby, pleased to meet you"

XXX

Ruby had visited periodically after that first meeting, always ringing twice before sauntering over to the couch and making herself at home, her fist sentence always having the number of days until the assignment was to take place, today being no exception, "tomorrow dear Moran, then we'll how good you really are" she smiled as usual, her whiskey eyes glinting mischievously, as if she couldn't wait to watch the kill, just like usual he poured her a drink and then one for himself before sitting down "the job Jim gave you, was it to be my annoying reminder or is there something else?" she laughed and took her glass "you'll see" was all she said as she flicked her fringe out of her face, the rest of her hair in an elegant bun, formal attire to match. Sebastian sighed, wishing that she would come to be on his hit list in some way or another after this assignment was through, no one could be so calm while so exited underneath, it infuriated him greatly, "why don't you just tell me now? It's not like it will do anything to my shooting"

"sorry, strict instructions to keep it confidential, you wouldn't want to upset your dear Jim would you?" he felt his anger bubbling his hand sub-consciously went to his Jacket's inside pocket, where he kept his smaller gun "now, now Sebastian Moran, I have a job to do before you can shoot me" Sebastian lowered his hand gritting his teeth "I can see why he likes you" Ruby raised an eyebrow at him, before finishing her drink and standing and walking towards the door, typical, she never stayed long "I'll be here at 10am tomorrow, we'll go to the spot together, be ready Sebastian dear, I'm not a patient person" she smiled and closed the door, Sebastian waited until he saw her through the window to call Jim "Tiger! How was the little encounter today?" Jims voice wafted through to Sebastian, relaxing him slightly "she's so annoying, why do I have to work with her? I've never needed a partner before" Jim's crazed laugh wafted through the phone, "all in good time tiger, also meet me at the diner at 6 tonight, go shoot something if you're that annoyed" the line went dead, no goodbye as usual, Sebastian sighed and looked to the clock, 5:45, he better get ready.

XXX

Sebastian sat on his couch, waiting for Ruby to show, he looked over at the clock, watching it tick to 10, just as the doorbell rang, he smiled to himself and got up opening the door "exactly on ten, I'm impressed" he smiled lazily at her, but she didn't smile like usual, she stepped aside "come on, there's a job to do" she started walking down the stairs of the apartment door Sebastian followed, grabbing his duffel bag and closing the door behind him, something was different today, Ruby was wearing something casual, her hair in a plait on the side, acting business like but not formal, as if they were strangers, he wondered what her job was, and why Jim had been so strange at the diner last night Tiger, oh my tiger, tomorrows the day, the final assignment, the one where Sherlock will fall, make sure you do your job tiger, just like always, okay? At the end of their meal he had been the same way you'll be seeing me tiger, but I won't see you, goodbye my tiger, goodbye Jim never, ever said goodbye, and now the woman he had come to know as a slightly more sane version of Jim, someone who always smiled, was always proper but never formal was being a complete reenactment of a normal person he would do business with oh I'm always this way Sebastian honey, I treat everyone like a dear old friend, but that doesn't mean my guard is down…

They reached the car, and Ruby slid in, only once Sebastian had done the same and they had taken off did she smile her usual smile, "and how are you dear? Had a good sleep, the old shooter prime and ready?" Sebastian nodded, relaxing into his old habits, laying everything out in his mind before her turned towards her "and I suppose your ready as well?"

"naturally" she smirked at him, her peachy lips looking pale compared to when she wore them ruby red "and of course I'm dressed for the occasion" she fell silent again, looking out the window, the fire in her eyes fading out slowly as she regained her tourist composure, when the care stopped she hopped out and subtly pointed to a building, before walking into a small coffee shot, the message was clear, we walk in at different times. Sebastian got out of the car and walked towards the Apartment building, straight to the stairwell doors, ten flights up, that's what Jim had said, running a hand through his hair, he began to climb the steps, counting ten flights before stopping. Moments later, just as he had started unpacking his gun, Ruby appeared, walking up one more flight of steps before stopping smiling down at him before disappearing from view "don't ask questions" he mumbled to himself, checking his clock, the 'show' was supposed to start at 1, it was currently 10:50.

After a while Jim appeared on the roof, waving before sitting on the edge of the buildings wall, putting in ear phones as he did so, waiting. Sherlock walked through the doors leading to the stares only minutes after, and Sebastian decided to locate John with his gun, but it didn't look as if John was there yet, sighing he looked up just in time to see the two men shake hands on the building, his chest constricting, his pulse rising and his head becoming clouded with grief and sorrow as he saw Jim put the gun to his mouth, even from here, in the building next to them he could hear the gun go off, see Jim fall to the ground, watch as Sherlock panicked, but even Sherlock didn't matter anymore, he couldn't even focus his gun properly "Breath Sebastian" the voice above him snapped him back to reality, causing him to look for the voice in confusion "breath, focus your gun on John, he's on the street now, don't loose concentration Sebastian, stay. On. Task." The voice was right, he took a deep breath and focused his gun on John, waiting for the moment when the voice - who he now realized was Ruby - would tell him to shoot, or to stand down, what felt like hours ticked by before Ruby told him to stand down, he calmly packed away his equipment before standing and watching Ruby descend the stairs. Then it came back, Jim's suicide jumped into his mind, as fresh as if it had happened a millisecond ago "Jim" he croaked, his back hitting the wall as he slid down into a sitting position "no, no, no" he shook his head and looked up at Ruby, who's eyes were no longer guarded, but filled with sorrow, sadness and sympathy "he said you'd get like this, now I understand " she sighed as Sebastian began pulling out his handheld revolver, carefully setting down his duffle bag containing the one he packed away moments ago, his other hand coming up to his head, coking the gun it held "Moran, don't" Ruby warned, quickly pulling out a recording device, but Sebastian didn't care, wasn't even slightly intrigued or suspicious until the voice that it played made him stop dead 'Tiger? Tiger I know how you must feel at the moment, but that is definitely not any reason to kill yourself' he looked up, his eyes showing the broken interior as he silently whispered "Jim?" 'yes, yes I'm dead at the moment, it's okay, I planned for that, I just hope that the good for nothing detective followed suit and jumped…. Sebastian Moran, listen to this recording and listen to it closely, replay it when ever you feel particularly suicidal okay?' the was a deep breath on the tape and a pause, you could hear the raw emotion in Jim's voice when the recoding him next spoke 'I know it's hard, and all you want to do is die, but please, please…..' he drew out the word, emphasizing it, 'Tiger…. Don't shoot' the recording ended, Ruby clicked the rewind button and handed it to Sebastian when it had finished it's process, slowly prying the gun from his limp hand and putting it back in the holder, concealed by his jacked "Sebastian…. It's time to go home" he looked up at her startled, doing a double take as he saw that she too, was grieving, her eyes brimmed with tears as she smiled at him sadly. That was when he snapped. That was when he broke down and cried into her lap. That was when she cried too.


	2. Sorry?

**sorry all for the absence of well, updates, i promise ill be back on soon but just for now i am doing Camp NaNoWriMo and that is all im focusing on for the moment so i am so sorry but you know, stuff to do, word limits to meet...**

**if you would like to see my NaNoWriMo story, it is posted here:**

** u/897828/APoisonedPassion**


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